Chris Mayer: No Big Theme in US Stocks, Just “Special Situations and Quirky Opportunities”

by Henry Bonner, Sprott MoneyThere’s a big macro theme playing out in Europe – a once soft economic environment that allowed lots of inefficiency is becoming tougher and forcing companies to restructure, says Chris Mayer, author of Capital & Crisis and Mayer’s Special Situations. But the US is harder to navigate right now – there’s isn’t any ‘big theme,’ he says. Chris spent a decade in corporate banking before joining Agora Financial in 2004. Thousands of subscribers now read his stock analysis on a regular basis. Chris isn’t focused on any particular sector – just on finding a small number of opportunities that he believes are worthwhile investments. I asked Chris for his take on today’s macro-economic trends, and whether he was interested in resources and precious metals yet. Henry Bonner: Looking at the economic environment today, do you think that there’s a big macro threat to investors or are you still comfortable investing like normal? AUDIO INTERVIEW HERE>>>Chris Mayer: That’s a great question. I get that a lot because people worry about all these things going on in the world. And there’s certainly a long list of things we could be worried about. But I think of something that Ben Graham used to say, that any individual investor using a variety of approaches ought to be able to find one percent of whatever listed securities are out there that offer attractive buying opportunities. So back in those days, there were something like 3000 stocks in the S&P monthly stock guide and one percent was about 30 securities. In other words, there are always lots and lots of things to worry about. But for a US investors, for instance, looking at the Wilshire 5000 index (which despite the name only has something like 3,600 names) you ought to be able to find one percent that are attractive. I think that that is profoundly true. It’s kind of like, no matter what the macro environment is, you can always find some things that are interesting. Henry: And in the current environment, are there specific circumstances that are driving your investments from a macro point of view? AUDIO INTERVIEW HERE>>>Continue Reading>>>